| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Think I said my point here was that, as a taxpayer, you and I deserve to have certain services delivered for us. | ||
| Those services are not being delivered under this, this lack of strategy, and that's what deeply, deeply concerns me. | ||
| To your point about Ukraine, I'm not sure what would stop Putin from encroaching further and further into Europe if Ukraine hadn't put up, and isn't putting up, such an incredible fight. | ||
| I mean the fact that civilians have been engaged in this, the fact that Zelensky is, you know, pulling and holding together all of the allies to support this effort again for self-governance. | ||
| It is an incredible feat and deserves again, as a Democratic ally, deserves the American support. | ||
| Congresswoman Sarah Elfrith is in her first district, serving the third district of Maryland a Democrat out of central Maryland, and we appreciate your time on the Washington Journal. | ||
| We'll see you again down the road. | ||
| Thanks, John. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Utah Republican Mike Kennedy. | |
| He represents the Beehive State's third congressional district. | ||
| Congressman, welcome to you John, good to see you. | ||
| Thanks you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The one big, beautiful bill. | |
| You voted for the bill last month. | ||
| Since then, we find out from the Congressional Budget Office this week that they expected to add 2.4 trillion dollars to the deficit over 10 years. | ||
| Elon Musk has called this now a pork-filled abomination? | ||
| Is this still a bill that you support? | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| The reality is, with this aircraft carrier that we call the United States OF America is we've got to get it heading in the right direction and with all due deference to Elon Musk, who's obviously an intelligent person is we are making steps in the right direction. | ||
| This, this bill, is going to cut our deficit by 1.5 trillion dollars, with economic growth estimated 1.8 percent by the CBO, the. | ||
| The reality is they're not factoring in the dynamic aspects of cutting taxes on the American people, and i'm proud to be a part of supporting this bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Explain that a little bit more for people who are hearing these numbers, 2.4 adding to the deficit, 1.5 in savings that you're saying. | |
| Explain how we get to the number that you're talking about. | ||
| The Congressional Budget Office has been wrong over and over again and the reality is that when we cut taxes, they count that as a deficit. | ||
| It increases the deficit. | ||
| That the reality is when we're cutting taxes on working class people, people that are working overtime, people that are actually getting tips so these are the working class Americans that my family comes from. | ||
| The reality is we're cutting taxes on those people, but the CBO counts that as a deficit increase rather than a deficit decrease. | ||
| When people have more money in their pocket, when they're, when their tips aren't taxed, when their overtime isn't taxed, what are they going to do with that money john, they're going to actually go out in the economy and they're going to spend money. | ||
| They're going to buy things and if they own a small business, if they have a side business, a side hustle which many people do the reality is they're going to invest in their business. | ||
| They're going to build our economy and actually we're going to see our economy grow. | ||
| And then what happens, John? | ||
| And for you and your listeners they're going to pay more taxes as a result of that, because they're buying items, so they pay the taxes associated with those purchases. | ||
| They invest in their business, their business grows, they have more customers. | ||
| They pay more taxes because they're more successful. | ||
| So this bill does the exact opposite to what they're suggesting in the media. | ||
| And I understand the media wants to tear this bill down. | ||
| They hate to see Republicans successful because most of them are not supportive of the Republican Party. | ||
| But I believe we are moving this aircraft carry in the right direction and we need to continue to move this thing forward. | ||
| What is your view of what's going to happen in the Senate? | ||
|
unidentified
|
How different do you expect the bill to be when they finish with this bill and you have to come back and agree on a final product here? | |
| I've served as a state House of Representatives member and a state senator. | ||
| The reality is as a state senator, when the representatives in my state, Utah, sent over a bill to the Senate, we would have our way with it. | ||
| We're going to make changes. | ||
| The Senate usually thinks itself, the House of the Lords is what it came from in England, and the reality is they're going to have their way with it. | ||
| And actually, I invite that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
No product that Washington produces is perfect. | |
| So for the senators to weigh in, for the Byrd Rule, which I heard some of your previous discussion talking about the Byrd Rule, we need to have it go through that process. | ||
| The Senate parliamentarian is also going to determine if these are actually budget reconciliation pieces or policy pieces. | ||
| And there's a process between now and when this thing ultimately gets to President Trump's desk. | ||
| And I invite that. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because our Constitution and our founders, they set it up this way. | ||
| People complain, why aren't you moving faster? | ||
| Why aren't you doing more? | ||
| The reality is we have 435 reps, 100 senators, and a president. | ||
| Everybody should weigh in on this for the good of the American people. | ||
| Before you took this job, you were a physician in family practice. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Explain the changes in Medicaid that this bill makes and why you think they're needed. | |
| Thank you for being clear on that because Medicaid and Medicare, if you went out there and asked 100 people, including in this House of Representatives and our senators, and if you asked them the difference between Medicaid and Medicare, many of them would not be able to tell you. | ||
| And I'm sad about that fact. | ||
| So I want to be clear. | ||
| Medicare and Social Security are not part of this. | ||
| Medicare is, and I heard some of your listeners before, talking about Medicare, like this bill does something with Medicare. | ||
| It doesn't do anything with Medicare. | ||
| It doesn't do anything with Social Security. | ||
| In fact, the Byrd Rule mandates that we can't do anything with that. | ||
| Medicaid is a program, and this is where, as a doctor, for 25 years, I've taken care of people. | ||
| I know people by name. | ||
| I have taken care of them for decades, and they are on Medicaid. | ||
| They need Medicaid. | ||
| Frankly, my family has been on Medicaid before. | ||
| And the idea that a doctor like me and many of us in the House of Representatives would damage the system we call Medicaid is laughable and actually disturbing. | ||
| And many people, it's outright lies. | ||
| They're saying Medicare and Medicaid, and they're conflating those two things. | ||
| Medicaid is a program for pregnant women, indigent people, and the disabled. | ||
| It is not for illegal immigrants. | ||
| John, the reality right now, and you're looking at states like California and New York who don't like this bill, why? | ||
| They have registered illegal aliens on Medicaid. | ||
| They are using the Medicaid system. | ||
| They're going to break the Medicaid system. | ||
| In fact, they are breaking the Medicaid system, which is for pregnant women. | ||
| So we need to make sure we preserve Medicaid. | ||
| And the 1.4 million illegal immigrants that are on Medicaid right now, I'm sorry to say they're not going to get health care. | ||
| And if you call that a health care cut, that American citizens are not going to get health care through Medicaid because we're serving illegal aliens, then I guess you can call it a cut. | ||
| But what I call that is right-sizing of a program that is in desperate need for indigent people, the disabled, as well as pregnant women. | ||
| And we're trying to preserve that. | ||
| And actually, we're going to save money with that, which actually preserves Medicaid. | ||
| I'm a big fan of this. | ||
| The other piece about the Medicaid reforms that we're doing, we are asking people, and it's an important step in the right direction because I've been working since I was 12 years old. | ||
| An individual on Medicaid that's able-bodied and no dependents, if you have children or you're disabled, this requirement does not apply to you, is that you need to go out for 20 hours a week, which that's pretty nominal, actually. | ||
| I've worked diligently since I was 12 years old. | ||
| 20-hour work week doesn't sound bad. | ||
| But you need to go out and try to find a job. | ||
| You need to try to find training for a job. | ||
| You can do this virtually. | ||
| Or you need to be in a school program to learn so that you can get a better job. | ||
| So the work requirements are part of this. | ||
| And frankly, work has been a great benefit in my life. | ||
| I'm really grateful since I was a kid that I was able to work cutting grass and busting tables. | ||
| I was a janitor. | ||
| I've been a box handler at United Parcel Service. | ||
| The reality is, work is a great thing. | ||
| And if you're going to be able-bodied without dependence adult, then you need to spend 20 hours a week trying to find a job. | ||
| And I think that that's a positive step in the right direction with this big, beautiful bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Congressman Mike Kennedy, Republican of Utah, with us until the top of the hour at 8 a.m. Eastern, taking your phone calls, lines for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents as usual. | |
| And there are plenty for you already, Congressman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This is Earl in Seneca Falls, New York, Republican. | |
| Earl, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, good morning. | |
| With your permission, I'm going to be a little long-winded. | ||
| Well, Earl, I'm short on time and I've got a lot of calls. | ||
| Yeah, good to talk to you, Earl. | ||
| How you been? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'd like to know why this administration wants to put the people of Ukraine back under a Soviet/slash Russian government-controlled government. | |
| We don't want to do that. | ||
| We want to support the good people of Ukraine wherever we can, but this is Europe's war and Europe needs to back them up. | ||
| The United States of America, I'm not going to support sending our young men and young women off to Ukraine. | ||
| But when we can sell them weapons, then we should sell them weapons and they should pay for them. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, that's a false statement. | |
| Why is that, Earl? | ||
| Because it's one of those gotcha lines that the Republicans are. | ||
| I'm a big fan of freedom-loving people, and the Ukrainians want to support themselves. | ||
| In fact, I got neighbors that are Ukrainians. | ||
| They've come over here since the war, and I want to see Ukraine strong. | ||
| The reality is, Russia is not the United States of America's friend, and I stand with Ukraine. | ||
| The reality also is that we need to make sure that we're not sending our young men and young women over there. | ||
| But Ukraine, if they can't pay for the weapons and supplies that they need, then we should put it on a tab and they'll pay for it later. | ||
| And that's where this critical minerals deal that President Trump's working with Ukraine on is, I think, a vital part of this. | ||
| Let's do a deal with Ukraine so that if they can't pay for it, then they provide critical minerals for us, which is an important need for the United States of America. | ||
| There's ways to make this work, and we want peace. | ||
| As a Republican Party, President Trump wants peace. | ||
| Vladimir Putin is playing hardball, and we understand that. | ||
| The guy's a dictator. | ||
| So I think we need more sanctions on Russia. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How do you see this war ending? | |
| Do you think Ukraine is going to have to give up some of its territory to end this war? | ||
| The reality is it's complicated, and Ukraine and Russia are going to have to sort this out with the assistance of the United States of America. | ||
| But this is Europe's problem. | ||
| This is their back door. | ||
| And Europe needs to step up. | ||
| They've for ages stood down while the United States of America and our taxpayers are the police officers for the world. | ||
| And it's not appropriate. | ||
| We can't health care the world. | ||
| We can't police officer the world. | ||
| We can't feed and clothe the whole world. | ||
| We need to make sure we're taking care of the United States of America interests. | ||
| And I'm entirely supportive of freedom-loving people, and we will sell weapons to Ukraine. | ||
| But when it comes to Russia, Russia's never been a sincere, they don't deal sincerely with these issues. | ||
| Russia is a war, war-happy country. | ||
| Vladimir Putin wants to propagate war. | ||
| And President Trump's promoting peace. | ||
| So, when it comes to this, we need to be very skeptical of the intentions of our Russian and our Chinese Communist Party adversaries. | ||
| These people do not look out for the interests of the American people. | ||
| And I'll just promise you, on my part, as well as President Trump, I know that President Trump is working to put the American people first. | ||
| So am I. We'll make sure that the world is as safe as possible, recognizing it's a dangerous place. | ||
| There's a lot of problems out there, and we can't fix all the world's problems. | ||
| Europe needs to step up, and President Trump's demanding that. | ||
| Alan, Texas, Gary, Independent, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You are next with Congressman Mike Kennedy. | |
| Hello. | ||
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| Good morning, Gary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
First, I'd like to find out since 1980, we've been hearing that we were going to get a trickle-down benefit from the Republican tax cut. | |
| Now we're being told that it's going to, the trickle-down or the tax cuts are going to be beneficiary and actually pay us out of our national debt. | ||
| It's ridiculous. | ||
| Every time the Republicans come up with a tax cut, our national debt blows up even bigger. | ||
| President Reagan and President Bush, for 12 years, we had, and I was a young, young fellow at the time, but we saw when was the budget balanced? | ||
| It was after President Reagan and President Bush during the Clinton administration. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'll just tell you, it wasn't the Clinton administration that did it. | |
| It was the tax and economic benefits associated with Republican policies. | ||
| For 12 years, it translated the last time our budget was balanced. | ||
| And I'm happy to say that those policies actually have impacted my life in a significant fashion. | ||
| So when it comes to cutting taxes, my question to the people that are listening: do you want the government to have money in their pocket that they've taken from you, or would you prefer to have it in your pocket to use as you see fit? | ||
| For those who want to see increased taxes, then fight against the big, beautiful bill because every American taxpayer, every family, is going to pay $1,700 more dollars in taxes. | ||
| So we're trying to cut the taxes, keep money in your pocket instead of the government's pocket. | ||
| And I'm a big fan of that. | ||
| As a state legislator, I saw over and over again that when we made sure that money was in the pockets of the people, that they used it more responsibly and the economy grew. | ||
| So, and I saw that during my young man's lifetime is when the Republicans were in charge, President Reagan, as well as President Bush, there were economic, it was an explosive economic benefit that came to the people, and this big, beautiful bill gets us moving in that same direction. | ||
| They're calling all the way from Hawaii for you, Congress. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This is Alan in Halewa. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Hey, hi, John. | ||
| That's actually Hali Eva. | ||
| Hala Iwa. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Love it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hali Iva. | |
| I think really importantly is the big, beautiful bill may harm the solar industry immensely, which requires, you know, it's going to take all the incentives away. | ||
| And the problem is that solar is a really big part of our energy mix and growing faster. | ||
| And a lot of Republican advocates are talking about that we need it for AI, data centers, all kinds of stuff. | ||
| Do you really want to make solar die on the vine by doing that? | ||
| That's a great point. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Beneficials? | |
| Thanks for bringing that up, and especially from a sun-happy state, and God bless you in Hawaii, it's a great place. | ||
| And actually, Arizona, and I'm from the West, so I'm from Utah, which is a very sun-happy place as well. | ||
| Solar is a significant energy generator, and I'm a big fan of solar. | ||
| So, what has happened with this bill? | ||
| And I'll just say we, because of Democrat amendments, this bill was passed in the early morning a couple of weeks ago, actually. | ||
| And they had made changes, meaning leadership in conjunction with some negotiations have made changes where solar was put on the chopping block. | ||
| And my state is a heavy residential solar state, and I'm a big fan of what they do. | ||
| So, we're actually working with the Senate to see those provisions altered in a way that the solar industry is not damaged. | ||
| The reality, I'll say this too, is every industry that is on the take where the taxpayers are subsidizing them, we need to get off that process. | ||
| We need to make sure that actually people stand on their own two feet. | ||
| Everybody needs to put on their big boy and big girl pants. | ||
| And when it comes to this, I'm not a fan of government taxpayer subsidies for many of the things that we subsidize. | ||
| But when we, for over 20 years, have been subsidizing solar and it cut the feet out from under these people, I don't think that's appropriate. | ||
| We need a glide path down, and I'm working with my Senate colleagues to make sure that that happens for solar because it's a viable version of energy. | ||
| But let's be honest, we need to move into the nuclear world. | ||
| We need to make sure that we have strong energy resources to build the information infrastructure that we need. | ||
| So, artificial intelligence can win that race against our adversaries across the globe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You mentioned you're from a sun-happy state. | |
| What should viewers know about the third congressional district of Utah? | ||
| Love the place, man. | ||
| It's the southeastern Utah part. | ||
| Arches National Park is part of it. | ||
| And come to Utah, people. | ||
| If you want to. | ||
| So, I was born and raised in Michigan, and the Great Lakes are amazing. | ||
| Moved out west to go to school, raise my family, and it's been a great place, business-friendly as well. | ||
| And in the state of Utah, you got the Delicate Arch, which we were just there last week. | ||
| And if you want to see an amazing structure that man did not make, actually, it's God-made structures, it's remarkable to walk through these beautiful, vast lands that we have. | ||
| And we can use our lands in a functional fashion and not abuse them. | ||
| I'm a big fan of the West. | ||
| There's great power in the West and many fronts, and it's a privilege to represent those good people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
A question from Teresa in Arkansas via text message: Do you support the selling of public lands, federal lands in Utah? | |
| Teresa, the reality, and thank you for that important question: is we have a housing crisis not just in Utah but throughout the West and particularly throughout the country. | ||
| And if we can sell small tracts of lands, which Senator Mike Lee has proposed that contiguous to, if there's a city or county with contiguous federal lands, meaning right next to the city or county, and they're going to actually take small acreage and build houses on that, I am entirely supportive of using small tracts of public lands for necessary needs. | ||
| The reality in the state of Utah is over 60% of our land in the state of Utah is locked up in federal lands, which we love our national parks, and we actually love to be in our national parks and we invite the world to our national parks. | ||
| But when it comes to housing crisis and the fact that my children can't live in my area because houses are so hard to find and also so expensive, we need to open that up so that people have an opportunity to actually have houses. | ||
| So, small tracts of federal land, absolutely, I think we can use those in a responsible fashion. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Line for Democrats, Michelle Toma, Wisconsin. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| You're on with Congressman Mike Kennedy. | ||
| Hi, Michelle. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| My question is about the ACA and the subsidies. | ||
| I've been working my whole life, like you. | ||
| I started my job at 12, and I've been working my whole life. | ||
| And my employer that I've been with for the last 10 years, and I'm in health care, and my employer does not offer health insurances. | ||
| So I rely on the ACA, and I rely on those subsidies. | ||
| Yes, a lot of people do. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I will be 64, and I will continue to work as long as my health will allow me to. | |
| However, the reason why I rely on the ACA and the subsidies is because I have COPD, stage three, and I also have a liver deficiency called Alpha One anti-trivial. | ||
| Oh, yeah, that's a devastating trouble. | ||
| So if they were to do anything as far as cuts or the subsidies or anything, I will be royally screwed. | ||
| Michelle, got your point. | ||
| Thank you, Michelle. | ||
| We want to make sure we're supportive of that, too. | ||
| Also, when it comes to Medicaid, and in this case, the Affordable Care Act, which it is what it is, I'm stepping into this, and there's a bunch of things that have happened before that translate into what Michelle is talking about, is we need to make sure that people have access to affordable health care. | ||
| Medicare is, if you're almost 64, Michelle, if I heard you right, is you're almost on Medicare, so in that case, you'll have access to great insurance through that. | ||
| But we need to make sure we're supporting access to high-quality health care in an affordable fashion. | ||
| And those premium subsidies that are part of the Affordable Care Act, it's an important thing for us to look carefully at because we don't want to damage people's access to health care. | ||
| Thanks, Michelle. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Let me go to the Peace Garden State. | |
| This is Margaret in North Dakota. | ||
| Republican, good morning. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| I was wondering, whatever happened to the International War Crimes Bureau that is supposed to arrest someone like Putin. | ||
| Hello, Margaret, and thanks for bringing that up. | ||
| I think it's very clear that Putin is an international war criminal. | ||
| And the fact that he invaded Ukraine unprovoked, trying to take over territory. | ||
| The reality behind any international conflict like that is somebody would have to go into Russia and try to extract Vladimir Putin and bring him to justice. | ||
| And that's called a war. | ||
| If somebody's going to go in and actually try to take Vladimir Putin out, that's going to start an international war. | ||
| And you kind of don't see Vladimir Putin traveling a whole lot. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because the man knows that if he travels, he's going to be vulnerable. | ||
| And so there are international complaints and efforts that way. | ||
| But Vladimir Putin stays in the country that practically he owns along with his oligarchs. | ||
| And that's why for us in the United States of America, we need to make sure we sanction and use every tool available to us to push back and to fight vigorously with those that are our adversaries. | ||
| And in this case, I think we need more sanctions on Russia. | ||
| Russia is not, they're not interested in peace. | ||
| They're warmongers the way that Vladimir Putin is acting. | ||
| And we need to make sure we vigorously fight. | ||
| Once again, this is Europe and Ukraine's issue, and we want to be supportive, but it is not our conflict, and it's not our responsibility to police office the world. | ||
| So in that case, I think we can use economic sanctions to push back on Vladimir Putin and the terrible things that he's doing. | ||
| Just about five minutes left with Congressman Mike Kennedy this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You are just over five months into your congressional career. | |
| First time on the Washington Journal. | ||
| Have you had a chance in those five months to introduce legislation? | ||
| And if so, what about? | ||
| Yeah, thanks, John, for asking. | ||
| The reality is we didn't just introduce, but we passed off the House floor a bill to protect our critical research from the Chinese Communist Party. | ||
| They are not our friends, and I'll tell you, John, proudly, we passed that within our first 100 days. | ||
| The reality behind the Republican Party is we are moving the agenda forward, and I'm proud to be a sponsor of internationally important legislation that's actually protecting our critical research from the Chinese Communist Party. | ||
| John, you and your listeners know, and it's shocking to see, and I've seen it actually in the course of my lifetime as a state legislator, Chinese Communist Party has infiltrated our state governments and also our institutions of learning. | ||
| Harvard and Columbia, there are many, we're here in numbers, 300,000 Chinese citizens are part of our higher education system. | ||
| And by the way, my dad is an immigrant. | ||
| I'm a big fan of immigrants, and our country is better when we bring people that are honest and they want to learn to this country. | ||
| And we learn from them and they learn from us. | ||
| But if they're going to steal our secrets and bring it back to the Chinese Communist Party to our detriment, we will push back vigorously on that. | ||
| And these people need to be deported if they're affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. | ||
| So those kind of investigations need to be done. | ||
| But I'm proud to actually have sponsored and passed my first bill off the House floor. | ||
|
unidentified
|
John, you and your listeners know I need 60 votes in the Senate. | |
| And actually, I think I can get it, but the Senate has been so occupied by a variety of things that they're slow to take our things up. | ||
| And this reconciliation package is actually the biggest thing that they need to work on right now. | ||
| So God bless the Senate. | ||
| We're looking forward to them to move my bill and many other bills off the Senate floor so that we can actually get it to President Trump's desk. | ||
| But yeah, we've sponsored many pieces of legislation. | ||
| Here's another one that we're sponsoring: methadone is a narcotic. | ||
| It's a strong narcotic with a fairly unusual distribution in a person's body. | ||
| And I have a friend who actually gave another medicine that could suppress breathing to a patient, didn't know this individual was on methadone because of federal law that prohibits methadone from being disclosed to a practitioner data bank. | ||
| And this person ended up overdosing and dying because the doctor didn't know that the patient was on another medicine. | ||
| So I'm sponsoring a bill actually to open that up so that actually states can disclose to doctors that the patient is on methadone. | ||
| Right now the federal law prohibits that and I think we need to change that to promote life and well-being of our citizens and better health care from our doctors. | ||
| You mentioned there that your father was an immigrant. | ||
| Where did he immigrate from and what does he say? | ||
| What the process was like? | ||
| Yeah, it's actually, so this is back in the 80s. | ||
| Ronald Reagan, my dad many years ago came from Canada to Michigan and that's where he met my mother and I was number two out of seven in my family and I'm proud of that fact. | ||
| The reality is United States of America, all over the world people want to come here. | ||
| It's a place for people to prosper under liberty and freedom and economic opportunities that are unheralded throughout, unparalleled throughout the world. | ||
| So I'm a big fan of the United States of America. | ||
| The process back then was easier, I believe, than it is now. | ||
| And part of it is that there's a lot of people. | ||
| I mean, Joe Biden let 10 to 15 million illegal immigrants cross the border. | ||
| We have a big problem in our country with open borders and President Trump has done a great job. | ||
| We didn't need a new law to protect our border. | ||
| What we needed was a president that actually cared about the border and we've got one. | ||
| And I've been to the border and nobody's coming across the border that doesn't have a compelling need. | ||
| And in that case, we want people to come. | ||
| But I'm sponsoring a bill and I've asked my staff to start working on this. | ||
| We need to promote legal immigration. | ||
| I want people to be able to come here that want to come here and do good. | ||
| But if you're a gang member, if you're a human trafficker, you stay out of this country. |